


we, alike

by Bloodsbane



Series: tangled weeds in concrete cracks [6]
Category: The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Powers, Aspec Archives Week (The Magnus Archives), Canon Asexual Character, Dom/sub, F/M, Riding Crops, Trans Jonathan "Jon" Sims | The Archivist, aroace Daisy, nonromantic jondaisy, nonsexual kink, posture training
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-17
Updated: 2021-01-17
Packaged: 2021-03-14 21:35:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,468
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28802178
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bloodsbane/pseuds/Bloodsbane
Summary: Jon and Daisy do a scene, only to realize they have something interesting in common.
Relationships: Jonathan "Jon" Sims | The Archivist/Alice "Daisy" Tonner
Series: tangled weeds in concrete cracks [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1898941
Comments: 3
Kudos: 37
Collections: Aspec Archives Week





	we, alike

**Author's Note:**

> Funny how this is now the second installment for this series that's the result of an event week! 
> 
> Originally this fic was inspired by/outlined for Ace Week, but it ended up not happening in time and I kinda forgot about it for a while. Then I was looking through my files, saw this, and wanted to finish it - just in time for Aspec Week! So good timing, haha. 
> 
> This is part of an existing jondaisy series I have, and I'll say that coming into this one with no context will mean you'll be missing a lot of the underlying tension. I'll include a very brief summary of 'the incident' that gets mentioned in this fic, but if you'd like to read the entry that actually details what happened, that would be [bloodstains on my teeth](https://archiveofourown.org/works/26827756).
> 
> (so yeah, if you're familiar with the series, this fic takes place before all the rest!)
> 
> Content warnings will also be at the end of the fic!
> 
> And special thanks to Silver, Bresby, and Zecush for beta-reading!

“Elbows in.”

Jon takes a deep breath, then adjusts. Daisy observes this, and only resumes her pacing once she’s satisfied. She’s been slowly circling him for nearly twenty minutes now, and she can see the way his arms tremble. Honestly, it’s impressive he’s lasted this long, holding them up and out like this. The platter resting on his open palms, luckily, has been getting steadily lighter the more food Daisy takes from it. It’s not much, mostly crackers and a few pieces of fruit and cheese for her to take. Just something for Jon to hold, to offer, while he sits very, very still. 

They’ve done posture training before, but the other times didn’t end so well. Last time, Jon had wanted to come at the end, but he’d gotten so worked up and irritable that when Daisy tried to touch him, he’d snapped at her. That was before the incident, and a warning sign in retrospect. _Too late to worry over it now,_ Daisy thinks, and carefully plucks a grape from the platter. 

Jon’s doing a good job tonight, overall. But Daisy can tell something’s wrong. He’s slipping up too much, in small, unconscious ways, like slowly curling his spine or slumping his shoulders. Daisy corrects him swiftly every time, the crop in her hand assisting in her task. Jon’s got three marks, lovely and dark, decorating the skin of his forearms. 

“Chin up,” Daisy growls. Jon winces slightly when she reaches out with the crop, but it’s only to tilt his chin back to where it should be. Through the crop, Daisy feels the way he swallows, how his breathing makes it move slightly in her hand. She pulls it back and continues circling. “You’re distracted. Spit it out.”

She expects Jon to deny it, because as she’s learned, he’s really quite shit at being straightforward about anything. But they’re working on that, aren’t they? Usually she wouldn’t ask — she didn’t before. She doesn’t, with other submissives she sees. But Jon’s a little different, and despite everything, Daisy still wants to see him on his knees, just like this. So, ask she must. She refuses to be cowed by the necessity of frank conversation. 

So it’s a pleasant surprise when Jon sighs, then re-adjusts himself before saying, “I had a question.” 

“Okay.”

“I was just wondering… I mean, I’ve been wondering. Why don’t you ever want me to, ah, reciprocate?” 

Daisy, standing behind Jon now, twirls the crop in her hand. Catches the leather end, loops her finger through and tugs. “I’m not the submissive in this situation,” she says, and feels that should be that. 

It’s never so easy with Jon, though. He almost turns his head to look at her, then remembers himself — keeps his gaze on the food when he speaks. “That doesn’t mean I can’t be doing anything for you. I might not have as much experience with any of this as you do, but I know that much. You could just order me to do things. Make it a challenge, or, uh, punishment.”

“You don’t like giving,” Daisy says with a shrug. “I don’t like getting, either. This way works. You have a problem with it?” 

“No…”

“Then there’s nothing to worry about.” Daisy strides forward, then bends over to swipe a cracker from the plate as she moves back into Jon’s periphery. She pops it into her mouth and speaks around it, saying, “I prefer to give, you’d rather receive, that’s all. It works the same for both of us.” 

Jon scoffs. “I’d hardly call it comparable.” 

At this, Daisy stops walking. Stares down at Jon, her eyes critical. It’s enough to make him falter, and she can see the way his entire body tenses up. It’s not for the scene, either, and that alone is enough to make her adjust her own posture, to look away first. Things are… better, now, than they were before, but it’s a wound that’s still healing. They both want to be here and keep doing things like this, but that means taking their time and being more careful than they were. For Daisy, that includes watching herself in moments like these. She mutters, “Ease up; fix your shoulders,” and gently drags the end of the crop along Jon’s shoulders as she continues on her well-worn path. 

Jon re-adjusts. He starts breathing more evenly, though by now it’s clear he’s straining to keep it up. Daisy estimates he’s got a good five minutes left in him, but makes herself ask, “Color?” Just in case. 

“Green.” Then he mutters, “Sorry.” 

“Hm. Look, you’re ace, right?”

Jon perks up, and for just a second Daisy thinks he might allow his form to collapse. Then he rights himself and says, “I- well, yes, sure. I never told you that,” he adds, sounding a bit accusatory.

“Calm down; it was an educated guess. I…. know about it. That stuff. I’ve looked it up.”

“Oh, so you know all about being asexual then?” 

“I know enough,” Daisy tells him, her tone a warning. Jon frowns, but doesn’t shuffle or fidget. Daisy takes a cracker, but instead of eating it, she brings it to Jon’s lips instead. He hesitates but for a second, and once his mouth is occupied, Daisy continues to talk. “I don’t know if I’m like that, too,” she admits. She stops, thinking. No one else has heard this, not even Basira. It might be too late for that. If there was anyone to tell, it might as well be Jon, then. “Maybe I’m ace, maybe not. I know I don’t like people the same way they like each other. And I’ve never really wanted to bother with sex or anything outside of… well, things like this. So that probably says something. 

“It’s annoying, and causes problems sometimes. But not here; I find this simple. I know what I like and I stick with it. That doesn’t work for everyone, but it works for me.

“It’s like that for you too, isn’t it?” The crop whistles soft as a breeze when Daisy swings it to smack the meat of Jon’s arm. He gasps, flinches — the platter wavers just slightly, but he’s quick to catch himself. There’s a shadow to his complexion that betrays a blush, and Daisy has to remind herself that this scene ends with dish-washing, then straightforward aftercare. 

“I... I barely know what it’s like, for me,” Jon answers after a moment. “Before, I, uh- I tried some things, with my partner. She understood well enough, I guess, that I wasn’t naturally inclined towards having sex. That it’s different for me, and difficult, most of the time. But we tried. I didn’t hate all of it. It was just easier to let her do what she wanted, though. And- and no one likes having to do everything for you.” 

“Hm.” 

“I prefer it like this; it’s easier. There are rules and I know what I have to do. And I’ve tried this with others, but it’s…” Jon, clearly frustrated, glares at the way his arms twitch under the strain. “Complicated. Annoying. I get impatient and then I convince myself I don’t need it, so there’s no point.”

“Quitter.” 

“I’d rather give up a lost cause than beat a dead horse,” Jon snaps back. 

“You came back, though,” Daisy tells him, and wonders at how much it sounds like a question. 

Jon must hear it too. He looks down and away from Daisy, but the crop is there again, at his chin, forcing him to put himself exactly where she wants him. Once their eyes meet, Jon’s blush is undeniable. He grumpily says, “You’re a good dom.” 

It’s Daisy’s turn to scoff. She pulls the crop away and says, “That’s enough. Arms down.” 

Jon carefully places his burden on the nearby coffee table, then lets his arms drop with a sigh. He has a few minutes to recover before Daisy’s got to send him off to the kitchen to clear off the platter and wash all the dishes piled up in his sink. 

“You’re an idiot,” Daisy tells him, and pokes his crown with the end of the crop. 

“If I’m an idiot, you are too,” he grumbles, glaring at the crop like he wants to smack it away from him, but doesn’t have the energy to. Daisy pokes his shoulder, then his chest. He groans, finally swatting at it before trying to get to his feet. 

Daisy grabs him by the scruff of his shirt and helps haul him up, amused by his cry of surprise. “Come on,” she tells him, pushing his limp, gangly form in the direction of his kitchen. Then she gathers up the plate and follows, popping one more cracker in her mouth and offering him the last of the grapes.

**Author's Note:**

> okay so first, the context:
> 
> \- Jon and Daisy started this D/s relationship when they were both in not-great places, which resulted in their time together being very tense and not usually satisfying for either of them. At one point, Daisy snaps at Jon and hits him; he tells her to leave his flat and she does. A little while later, Jon finds Daisy and says he wants to try again, which Daisy's unsure about but agrees to since he insists. This scene takes place maybe a month or so after, so they're still easing back into it and actively working to make the relationship work better.
> 
> CWs:  
> \- Daisy does hit Jon with her crop; only once in the fic, though he's marked so it's implied it's happened multiple times.  
> \- There are two moments where Jon is wary of Daisy: he flinches when she brings her crop close to his face, and tenses up when she speaks to him in a way that makes him think she's angry.  
> \- Though the scene is not sexual, the fact that these two have done sexual things is referenced.  
> \- There's a section where, when describing his past relationship with Georgie, Jon talks about '[letting] her do what she wanted' when they experimented with sex. I just want to clarify this a bit: they never did anything Jon didn't outright consent to, and never anything he expressed discomfort over. He just means he didn't really take initiative when it came to sex, nor did he know at the time what he did/didn't like, so Georgie always took the lead.


End file.
